Plus and Minus

03Feb10

I am asked by quite a lot of people what Poken does, so I decided I do a short introduction to Poken.

What is Poken?
Poken is like a USB key with an embedded radio-frequency identification reader/transmitter. It is a small device for (allegedly) secure wireless exchange of data between the two equal devices and with USB interface for any standard personal computer. In a mass-produced plastic casing it holds a battery (with allegedly six months of life) and a chip.

It works like this: when two people with Pokens meet, they just push the button and send each other the contact (or networks) data.

Fair and square. And a big plus.
It is a great toy, but not just that: it answers the need of many (including myself) who are always stuck with sharing their contact info with others in real life situations. It solves the problem of scribbling down in haste the numbers and URL’s, when there is always no pen or paper around. And if you have a head like mine: dreadful in memorizing data, you should be as enthusiastic as me.

There comes a minus, of course.

The price. The electronics are produced by Art of Technology (Zürich), who is also responsible for development. In their flyer on Poken they openly say “only inexpresive standard components used.” Production goes on, yes, you guessed, in China. Pull those two facts together and you get: a product with low production cost priced on the market by my opinion way too high.

Now throw in a relatively short life of a device and you get, please do correct me if I am wrong: a product with a bad, non-eco character.

Is good old paper business card still a better alternative?
I can’t judge on this, I am absolutely caught :) and too much in love with this small thingy called Poken.